The paper summarizes the experimental results obtained during a series of aircraft experiments carried out by Space Research Institute in 1980's in the northwestern Pacific. The measurements of wind direction signatures were conducted with K- and Ka-band polarimeters at near-nadir and grazing view angles. These data are compared with the results obtained by JPL-NASA and ETL-NOAA researchers at medium range of view angles, and also with SSM/I data. Both first and second azimuthal harmonics as a function of view angle are analyzed. The experimental results are also compared with theoretical calculations based on the various models of the directional spectrum of wind waves. Reasoning from model calculations and experimental data, an optimal range of observation angles for wind vector retrieval is proposed